Grit, Golf & Girls on the Green

By Emily Guziak

The tiny white ball arcs into the sky, and the young woman who just finessed the ball with grit strength and grace flashes a characteristic quick smile. It’s her personality, veteran Vermont golfers say. She just loves the people and the game — and she’s good, very good.

“Libby loves to compete, she’s a great athlete, and she’s truly, genuinely nice,” golfer and teaching pro Shari Pfannenstein, of Rutland, says of former UVM standout Libby Smith. “She’s got the fire to go places with her golf.” The key is to harness that fire, use it to advantage, and bring other young women golfers along in the process. That, all Vermont State Women’s Golf Association members agree, is the future of the sport.

Moving Up

Young Vermont golfers don’t have far to look for role models these days. Vermont women golfers are indeed moving beyond New England with their golf. It’s not just Smith, but champion Sue Horton, and Quechee native Kiersten Allbright, as well. These young women are looking to pursue professional status in golf and finding their New England training is paying off.

Smith, an Essex High School and UVM grad, dominated the local sports page in golf and basketball for eight years. Now 23, Smith qualified for the 2004 Futures Golf Tour in November, and is playing on a “conditional” card, with a status ranking that allows her to play some of the Futures events. The Futures Tour is a feeder program for the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA). With 144 available berths in the LPGA, competition is tough among the Futures qualifiers, but the earnings are good and allow the young golfers to establish their stride. Smith is additionally backed by a three-year-sponsorship from Essex residents Bill and Julie Wick.

Horton, also of Essex, currently plays on the Futures Tour with Smith. She also played with Smith on a small professional tour for women in Florida called the Next Generation Women’s Golf Tour. Kiersten Allbright, 28, of Quechee, is playing on the West Coast Ladies Golf Tour and hopes to qualify for the LPGA 2005 season. Horton and Allbright also mark time as teaching pros in addition to time spent on the circuit. In this way they not only demonstrate success, but pass it on directly to the young women who will follow in their footsteps.

Coaching the Next Generation

“Libby and Sue are excellent prototypes for other girls in Vermont who are interested in golf,” said Mary Anne Levins, of Rutland. Levins, who played on two professional golf tours after playing collegiate golf at Duke University, is program director for the Vermont State Women’s Golf Association (VSWGA). As such, she is spearheading a statewide program to promote junior girls’ golf.

“Girls have really been pushed aside and treated as an afterthought in this state,” said Levins. “We’re committed to do more for junior girls’ golf in Vermont.”

To that end, the VSWGA applied for and received a $7,500 grant from the United States Golf Association to hold free teaching clinics throughout the state to promote golf among girls 18 and under. The first clinic, held on May 9 at the Pinewoods Driving Range in Pittsford, attracted 62 people. Clinics will also be held in St. Johnsbury, Quechee, Bennington, Middlebury, and elsewhere throughout the state. “The program we’re running this summer is to increase awareness of the game of golf for girls ages 5-18, all over the state,” Levins says. “We want to get girls out on the courses to introduce them to the game of golf and to provide instruction from professionals.”

Levins’ commitment goes far beyond mere introduction to the sport, however. “Not only do we want to have more girls playing golf in Vermont,” she says, “we want them playing better golf.”

Veteran golf professional and teaching pro Leo Reynolds, of Bennington, is the golf pro behind the clinics. Hugely supportive of girls’ junior golf, Reynolds helped Smith polish her game in high school, working alongside her at Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes. He taught the players; she washed their clubs and loaded their carts, and in-between times he helped Vermont’s golden girl perfect her graceful, gutsy swing. Meantime, he’s doing all he can to promote the idea of the upcoming generation of girls swinging a golf club.

“Someone somewhere is doing a much better job of teaching girls how to play golf than we are in this country,” said Reynolds, 58. “Nearly sixty percent of the girls on collegiate scholarships for golf in this country are foreign-born.”

Because golf is an individual sport, the game hasn’t attracted young girls as readily as it does boys; girls seemingly prefer “group” activities, or team sports, Reynolds feels. To that end, he is encouraging girls to bring their friends to the clinics. Golf clubs are provided for those who need them, the instruction and the mentoring are free.

Going Pro

Nationally, women’s professional golf is receiving long-awaited attention. In May, the Congress of Women’s Golf held its inaugural meeting in New York City to increase popularity of women’s professional golf. On May 21, the Ladies Golf Union announced that the Weetabix Women’s British Golf Open will be played in 2007 at St. Andrew’s Golf Course in Scotland. On June 28 the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open will begin at the historic Orchards golf course at Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It will be the largest sports event ever to converge on Western Massachusetts – and it’s all about the women.

Smith, who grew up playing golf with her brother at Alburg Country Club, is a strong, talented young athlete who hopes to earn a much-coveted spot in the LPGA. “I’m giving it the best shot I can,” Smith says. “I just feel very lucky to be able to do what I am doing. I’m learning to really keep a level head and stay focused. I just love the game.” The first qualifying round for the LPGA is in Palm Springs, Calif., in September.

“Libby is the cookie cutter example of what you can do to make it as a professional.” Levins says. “There’s many different ways of getting there. Libby played golf in this state all her life, and look where it’s taking her. She’s a very talented athlete and she’s taking her golf to the next level. It’s exciting.”

Levins took a lovely detour along the way. While she recently became reinstated as an amateur so that she could get out and play the tournaments, she readily admits that her pursuit of a spot on the LPGA was pleasantly sidetracked by marriage and children. She has a sterling piece of advice for going-for-the-gusto pros like Smith, and for plucky young girls who venture out to a clinic this summer and swing a club for the first time: “Always enjoy the game and never take it too seriously. It can be a great lifetime sport.”

For more information on the Vermont State Women’s Golf Association, clinics, tournaments, and events, log on to www.vswga.org. For information on the upcoming 2004 U.S. Women’s Open, visit www.2004uswomensopen.com.

Emily Guziak is a golfer, freelance writer, and contributor to U.S. News and World Report. She lives in Essex with her husband and three children.

National Women’s Golf Comes to Mt. Holyoke

by Deborah Alden

Women’s golf is taking off in New England this summer, with the U.S. Women’s Open kicking off the season at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. From June 28 through July 4 an anticipated 156 women golfers will compete at the historic Orchards Golf Course at Mount Holyoke. The Open should draw more than 100,000 spectators to South Hadley, making it the largest sporting event to come to Western Massachusetts.

The selection of Mount Holyoke as host to the U.S. Women’s Open is significant on a number of levels. Mount Holyoke, the oldest and one of the original Seven Sisters colleges dedicated to higher learning for women, has long been dedicated to excellence in women’s sports. In September 2000, Sports Illustrated named Mount Holyoke the top liberal arts college for female athletes. The course on which the golf team practices and plays is considered challenging, one the most difficult on their division circuit, according to Mount Holyoke golf team captain Audry Longo, class of 2005. Longo feels privileged to play on a course of this caliber. “It really helps to be able to practice on a course this hard,” she says.

The women pros who take to the links at the Orchards for qualifying rounds June 28 through 30 will be challenged by the course. “This course is very historic, very New England,” says Nicole René, public and media relations manager for the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open. “It has narrow fairways and small greens,” she says, noting that modern courses are more open. The Orchards will provide a challenging venue for the national championship, which includes Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie, Juli Inkster, Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb and many of the world’s best women golfers.

The Orchards embodies the spirit of women in sports. It was commissioned by industrialist and philanthropist Joseph A. Skinner for his nine-year-old daughter who was excluded from play on men’s courses. Skinner maintained the course and allowed Mount Holyoke women free use of the course until his death, at which time the course was deeded to the college. The Orchards was created by famed course designer Donald Ross in 1922. To this day it remains one of the premiere historic courses in the country. The professionals will have just three days to practice and qualify on the course before the championship begins on July 1. A new women’s national champion will be crowned on July 4.

The 2004 U.S. Women’s Open Championship, the 59th such event, will feature a number of clinics and special events. This year the LPGA and U.S. Golf Association (USGA) are focused on bringing more young golfers onto the links. The USGA will sponsor golf clinics on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday through their “Catch the Spirit” program aimed at young golfers. There will also be a celebrity clinic for juniors hosted by the New England Patriots. Juniors who attend the championship with a ticket-bearing adult are invited to stop by the junior tent, enroll in a clinic, accept a voucher for a free lunch, and watch some fabulous women’s golf from a front-row seat in all grandstands.

Of special and unique interest to juniors watching the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open is the inclusion of Michelle Wie, a fourteen-year-old female golfer from Hawaii. Wei, who is an amateur but has played a number of tournaments on the LPGA tour along with a number of men’s events this year, was granted an exemption to play in the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open by the Women’s Committee of the USGA. Over 500 media outlets are expected to be in attendance to cover the event. The total purse for the championship is $1.3 million.

Mount Holyoke welcomes visitors with a special exhibit chronicling the history of women’s sports, entitled The Sporting Woman: The Female Athlete in American Culture. The exhibit, on display at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, will run until August 1.

For more information on the 59th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, visit the official Web site at www.2004uswomensopen.com or the Mount Holyoke Web site at www.mtholyoke.edu.